Epidermal growth factor in human seminal plasma

In the present study, we have partially purified a characterized epidermal growth factor (EGF)-like substance(s) from human seminal plasma, and determined the concentrations of immunoreactive (IR)-hEGF in seminal plasma from normal and infertile males. Competitive binding curves of seminal plasma extracts were parallel to those of standard hEGF in both radioimmunoassay and receptor assay. Seminal IR-hEGF was similar to standard hEGF by gel exclusion chromatography, isoelectric focusing and sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The concentrations of IR-hEGF in normal seminal plasma (48 +/- 9 ng/ml) did not differ from those of infertile males (41 +/- 3 ng/ml); the concentrations of seminal plasma IR-hEGF did not correlate with density, motility or morphology of sperm. These data clearly demonstrate the presence of hEGF in human seminal plasma indistinguishable from hEGF of urinary origin, and suggest that it may not play an important role in the sperm function. The tissue(s) of its origin and its physiological function in the male reproductive organs remain undetermined.